


Pen and Ink

by Canadiantardis



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Car Accidents, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, One Shot, Other, Pidge Birthday Exchange 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-16 09:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14161920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Pidge hasn’t met their soulmate yet, but they set up a time and place during the middle of the summer to finally meet. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?Part ofPidge's Birthday Exchange, forGemma!





	Pen and Ink

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GemmaRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/gifts).



> Pidge is 16, Allura is 17.

Pidge got to the park in record time, almost two whole hours before they were supposed to. But who could blame them? They were about to meet their soulmate after years of communicating over skin!

It had been their soulmate’s idea to meet at the park, both having figured out it was halfway between their workplaces. Turns out it was closer to Pidge’s job than their soulmate’s job.

They fidgeted with the skirt of their summer dress. It was the nicest thing they had that hadn’t been worn in a while, and Pidge wanted to make a good first formal impression, even if they would rather wear jeans and a graphic shirt.

Pidge thought back to their life up to this moment _. The first time their soulmate had written on their skin, a cute, simple_ ‘hi!’ _in blue marker. Pidge had been 5 at the time, and Matt and their parents were already cooing at the large lettering as Pidge scurried around the room, searching for a marker to speak back. They had found a black sharpie and wrote_ ‘hello!’ _back before their mom saw and berated Pidge on using permanent marker on their skin._

_After that, they began talking to one another occasionally. Pidge would often turn to their soulmate before they would even think of turning to their brother or parents if they had an issue. One issue had been when Pidge was 13 and didn’t feel like they were a girl._

‘Then be a boy?’ _Their soulmates cursive writing scrawled onto their left arm._

 _Pidge had to think for a moment before they responded negatively._ ‘But I don’t feel like a boy either.’

_There was silence for several minutes, and Pidge had feared they had annoyed their soulmate into no longer wanting to talk to them._

_It wasn’t until Pidge was rubbing off their messages at the sink when they noticed new black ink appearing on the back of their hand, the cursive gone in their soulmate’s apparent excitement_. ‘Look this up! My dad found it just now! Its like, non binary or genderfluid!’

Pidge rubbed the back of their hand fondly, sitting at a bench in the park now. It had been thanks to their soulmate that they even found the proper resources to understand their identity, and it was that moment that Pidge had known for sure that soulmates were really, well, real. Before that, they had thought soulmates were just fake, random people forced together and they wouldn’t really care about their partners or pretend to care.

Along with the writing, both shared injuries, though one had only the phantom pains of whatever the other got. For Pidge’s soulmate, it was a lot of papercuts, shocked fingers, and small cuts from working on their science projects with Hunk and Lance. But for Pidge themself, it was anything from sprained ankles to broken or dislocated fingers. Pidge’s soulmate was in ballet and volleyball and very passionate about both, they found out after the third bruised ankle when Pidge complained about the phantom pain, demanding to know what happened and got several quick but long paragraphs on both sports and to not mock them, thank you very much.

Pidge felt a tingle on the inside of their arm, like a feather tracing along the skin. Turning their arm over, Pidge saw their soulmate made a little doodle of a face sticking the tongue out. _‘My dad just picked me up, after I get changed, I’ll let you know when we’re on our way~’_ Their soulmate wrote in Pidge’s favourite coloured ink; forest green.

Pidge’s stomach fluttered anxiously. It was only a little under an hour now until their soulmate was supposed to be here, in front of them, talking in the flesh instead of through pretty, neat handwriting. They quickly took out a pen they always kept on their person in case they had something to tell their soulmate. _‘Okay, see you at 3 then hopefully’_

* * *

 

Pidge played with their skirt, bunching it in their hands and swinging lightly around, watching as the dress flares for a moment and twirls around them before settling again. It was a cute dress, a birthday present from Lance as a joint present with Hunk, who got Pidge some slacks, a white long-sleeved button up with three different ties – one was an actual clip-on bowtie with a Harry Potter pattern designing it – with the well wishes of when Pidge was feeling “girly or guyish” according to Lance’s birthday card. They had originally thought it was stupid, because clothes were genderless, but still appreciated the effort Lance and Hunk went for them.

It was about fifteen minutes before their soulmate was expected to arrive when Pidge felt a different sort of tingle starting from their left hip and quickly working its way up to the left side of their head, and without meaning to, they yelled in pain, falling to their knees on the hard gravel path. The initial phantom pains surprised Pidge, but it was the false burning on their left side that enveloped their entire body that worried the teenager. It was like something hit them, like a truck or something that took Pidge’s breath away, grabbing at their chest. Their mind was on high alert, trying to figure out what happened.

But nothing was near them, the day was clear, and the closest person or thing were a jogger wearing earbuds and the nearby fountain that splashed water merrily, neither with a care in the world for Pidge or the sudden pain they felt.

After assessing the pain was phantom briefly allowed Pidge to calm down before fear and anxiety set in. The pain wasn’t theirs in the first place. This was their soulmate’s pain. Their soulmate was hurt.

 _Car crash._ Pidge’s brain supplied, and just like that, they sprung up, shakily grabbing their pen, and writing as clearly as they could on their arm, _‘Are you okay????’_

There was no response, and a couple minutes later, they heard the distant wail of sirens. Pidge knew those were for their soulmate.

* * *

 

Finding the hospital their soulmate had been taken to took a while, much longer than they wanted to take. They texted both Matt and Lance first, since they had both been equally excited that they were going to meet their soulmate, and so Matt could tell their parents. Then they looked for the nearest hospital and took off at a run, following the Google Maps on their phone.

At the first hospital, they had to ask the receptionist, after a lot of back-and-forth questioning, if the ambulance would go there or someplace else. He finally replied with a negative, learning Pidge was connected to victim and helped them figure out the right hospital.

“I’m sorry.” He said as Pidge was on their way back onto the street, looking genuine as Pidge looked back one last time. Pidge simply nodded and dashed off.

They got to the hospital a little after 3:20pm, out of breath and teary-eyed. The entire run gave Pidge terrible ideas, the one constant was, _Were they even alive? What if I get there to a white blanket over a body? We never told our names._

The receptionist from the other hospital must have called ahead of Pidge’s arrival, for a nurse and receptionist were both waiting for them, the nurse had a calming expression, but her hands were fiddling with one another to suggest she was a little nervous.

“Um, Mx. Holt, correct?” The receptionist asked, waiting for a nod before continuing. “Mr. Hender called ahead to explain the situation. You won’t be able to see her for another couple hours at least.”

“Are-is, is she alive?” Pidge gasped out, their mouth dry from the running and the fear, while the back of their mind stored minor knowledge of their soulmate they were getting.

“Yes, but in rough condition. Because the other car had hit the driver’s side first, the paramedics found her father dead on the scene.” The nurse replied. “Both the girl and the other driver were unconscious by the time paramedics arrived at the scene.”

“Oh my god.” Pidge put a hand to their mouth, growing pale.

“Ms. Audie will assist you to the waiting room, and then someone will come get you once she is out of surgery.” The receptionist said, gesturing to the nurse.

Pidge followed the lady mechanically, a little shell-shocked from the entire series of events. Once sitting down with a paper cup of water they had been given, they first downed the water before pressing the heels of their palms into their eyes as tears threatened to spill from the stress and fear of everything that happened.

A couple minutes later, Lance was calling them, sounding as freaked out as Pidge felt. “Dude! Any news?”

“I, uh, yeah.” Pidge cleared their throat. “Yeah, I’m, I’m at the hospital now. She’s in surgery, I think.”

“Oh, god. Pidge, you holding up? Which hospital are you guys at?”

“Uh, Voltron General.” Pidge scrunched their eyebrows together as they heard hurried movements on the line. “What are you doing?”

“Coming to offer emotional support. Duh. Hunk and Keith are both working. I’ll be there in like ten minutes.” Before Pidge could protest, the line clicked.

Just like he said, Lance appeared in the waiting room about twelve minutes later, with his scrawny but much-welcomed hugs he was so good at giving. Pidge was loathing to admit it, but they needed Lance’s comforting presence right now. He knew how to read Pidge better than any of their friends, and what to do to make them feel better.

The two chatted about nothing, Lance trying to find ways to distract them with his normal bizarre conversation starters. It was because of his witty banter that the two of them had become such great friends, and Pidge couldn’t be more relieved to have him with them.

“So then, this customer barged through the line and-” Lance was cut off by a doctor entering the room, pulling the mask down from her nose with a sigh.

Her eyes landed on the only two people in the waiting room and approached them, looking as professional as possible.

“Holt, I believe?” She asked, looking between the two friends, locking eyes with Pidge when they raised their hand a fraction. “My name is Dr. Chuang. Your soulmate has just gotten out of surgery.”

“Is she okay?” The words shot out of Pidge’s mouth like a bullet, eyes wide behind their large glasses.

Dr. Chuang nodded once. “The surgery was, for the most part, a success. But she still has a long way to go. Three broken ribs, a hairline fracture on her left arm, and countless cuts and bruising throughout her body, and in all likelihood, minor brain damage. She’ll be staying in ICU until she wakes up, which should hopefully be only a couple days. For now, she has been put in a medical coma to allow her time to heal without feeling the pain.”

“Can, uh, can I…?” Pidge attempted to ask, but the words wouldn’t come, afraid of the doctor saying they couldn’t.

The doctor’s expression softened. “I understand you were the one who left the message on her arm?” She gestures to Pidge’s arm, where the inked message was a bit runny from sweat.

“They were going to meet.” Lance supplied softly, looking at Pidge repeatedly in case they asked him to shut up.

“I’m very sorry this will be how you two meet. You two aren’t the first couple to meet in a hospital, not even the youngest couple, but it’s never easy. Voltron General has a soulmate policy.” Dr. Chuang explained. “You may stay as long as your soulmate is unconscious, but only soulmates may stay passed visiting hours.”

She directed her gaze to Lance, who immediately nodded in understanding.

“But yes, you may see her.” She nodded, stepping back towards the door. “Follow me.”

Pidge and Lance both shot up from their seats and followed the doctor through the halls, into the Intensive Care Unit. It was very quiet down this hallway, with the only sounds of footsteps being heard and beeps of machines. Pidge felt Lance’s hand on their slim shoulder, supporting them like always, and it gave them enough strength to make it through the silent hallway.

Finally, the doctor stopped a room and gestured to the two to enter. Soft beeping filled the room, along with the quiet almost wheeze-like breathing coming from the sole occupant of the hospital bed in the room.

On the bed was the most beautiful person Pidge had ever laid eyes on, even with the bruised face and scabs from fresh cuts on either cheekbone. She had long hair fanning around her pillow, and it was obviously dyed a bright silver – her dark roots were beginning to show along her scalp – as well as dried blood staining the dyed hair. Her skin was dark, darker than Hunk and Lance’s skin tones combined, and she had thick lips and sculpted eyebrows. One lean arm was on top of the blanket, with visible muscle definition as a result of the sports she played, and a finger enclosed by that they always saw in movies and tv shows but never knew the name of.

Pidge was dumbstruck at the sight of their soulmate, their mouth agape and they couldn’t seem to blink, as if within the moment they close their eyes, she’ll disappear.

Lance gently pushed Pidge’s mouth closed with a couple fingers on the bottom of their chin, and he helped them sit down.

They heard Dr. Chuang say something, but it was like a murmur in their mind, and then Lance made a noise before silence again. They had to be shaken lightly by their friend before they returned to the present.

“Not how you thought your soulmate would look?” Lance had a soft smile to match his tone as he sat down on the other chair in the room.

Pidge shook their head, wrenching their gaze from their soulmate to look at their friend. If they were honest, majority of the time, Pidge thought their soulmate was going to be rather plain-looking, or a gray anonymous blob with no defining features. And yet, here she was, and she absolutely exceeded any expectation they had had.

Lance leant back into his chair and crossed one leg over the other, relaxing for the moment. “Yeah, I had a feeling whatever you thought your soulmate would look like wouldn’t be even close to how they actually looked. You don’t have a fun imagination.”

Pidge glared at the smirk he gave them. “Like your imagination is any better.”

“It is actually. I know when I meet my soulmate, they’ll automatically be the most beautiful person in the world.” His eyes glazed over with wonder, the smirk melting into a distant smile.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Pidge waved their arms around, their eyes going back to their soulmate on the hospital bed. “I wish whatever happened hadn’t’ve happened… Maybe we should’ve rescheduled if we had known some idiot was going to t-bone them.”

“You wouldn’t have ever known something like this would have happened, Pidgeot.” Lance shook his head, using the pokemon nickname that had made Pidge choose their name when Katie didn’t seem to fit anymore. “This isn’t the best way to meet, but you heard the doctor, it’s not the first time soulmates have met this way.”

“I… I know. I just…” Pidge couldn’t find the words, glancing between their soulmate and friend as if either would help the confused mess their thoughts had become since the phantom pains they had felt at the park.

“Things’ll work out, Pidge. Just gotta take things one step at a time.” Lance flashed them his biggest, most genuine smile, and they really wanted to believe his words.

* * *

 

It had been over a day and a half since the accident, and Pidge laid their head on their soulmate’s bed, their hand barely a centimeter away from her hand.

Her name was Allura Altea, and she was both a grade higher than them as well as over a year older, going to the private school at the other end of the city. Pidge learned her name when another doctor had come in to look over the injuries to see that they were healing properly and began putting that name in front of everything they had ever known about her. She was the captain of the girl’s volleyball team and a ballerina. Her mother had died when she had been 8, and she had no other family besides her mother’s brother and her father. She had tried her hand at debating but was really bad at debating for things she didn’t personally have a strong feeling about. She was an honours student, but not by choice, but by commitment to her sports.

In short, Allura was everything Pidge wasn’t, and if it wasn’t for their soulmate status, Pidge would have never met the girl because it seemed they were nothing alike. And yet Pidge was here, almost dozing when they felt a feather-light brush of skin on their fingers.

Their head snapped to attention, eyes wide as utterly captivating cotton candy coloured irises squinted at them, eyebrows arching questioningly.

Pidge’s face burned red and they tried for a smile, scratching the back of their head. “Uh, ah, hi.” They stammered.

Allura’s lips twitched in slight amusement as Pidge tried to figure out what to say. They had been thinking of all the ways they would react to Allura waking up since arriving to her hospital room, but all coherent thoughts had flown out the window at the sight of her cotton candy eyes and the fact that she was actually awake.

“I-I, uh, I’m Pidge.” They said lamely, looking embarrassed. “I’m your-”

“Soulmate.” Allura finished in a breathy whisper, a croaky sound at Pidge’s surprised reaction that must have been a chuckle.

“Ah, yeah.” They relaxed with a genuine smile, pushing their hair away from their face. “Yeah, I am.”

Allura looked around without moving her head, expressing confusion without saying a word.

“Uh, you’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”

She shook her head once, her gaze returning to Pidge.

“You, you were in a car accident, on your way to meet me at the park. Doctors said you were in pretty bad shape, but they were able to save your life.” They explained in a soft voice.

Pidge talked for about three minutes before a nurse came in to check on things, a smile on his face when he saw Allura was awake and responsive before he hurried out to get the doctor. Pidge sat to the side, their hand a breadth away from Allura’s hand.

“D-dad? Where’s… my dad?” Allura asked. Pidge’s face dropped, and it was answer enough to their soulmate. Her eyes glistened with tears and slipped down her cheeks, but no sound came from her.

“I’m sorry.” Pidge said automatically. They knew they had nothing to do with the death of her father, but they needed to say something.

Allura tried smiling, a wobbling quirk of her lips as she raised her hand to wipe the tears away, just as the door opened and a flurry of orange and blue bounded from the door to Allura’s bed. When the blur had solidified, Pidge saw an older man with shockingly bright orange hair wearing a blue suit wrapping his arms around Allura’s head.

“I’m so sorry, Lulu!” The man had a distinctive British accent, and when his face turned so Pidge could see him closely, thought this man was a real-life version of Nigel Thornberry, with a magnificent moustache and pale skin and dark purple eyes when he opened his eyes. “I was in China when I got the call and getting here took so long. I got here as soon as I could.”

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” Allura murmured, wrapping her arm loosely around the man. “Coran, I’m okay. You’re squeezing me.”

“Ah! Sorry!” The man – Coran – jumped back, holding his hands up in the air before he looked sheepish. “I was just worried. I heard about your father and knew I couldn’t leave you on your own while I had those meetings.”

Allura looked concerned. “Are you sure? They were… big clients, weren’t they?”

Coran waved his hand dismissively, putting his other hand on Allura’s head. “They understood. We decided to reschedule, and they’ll be coming to America in a month anyway.”

He looked at Pidge for a second, almost passing over them before he realized there was in fact another person in the room. “Oh! Hello, I don’t think I know you. Who are you?”

Pidge stammered over their words but managed to eventually say a couple full sentences. “I’m Pidge Holt, uh, Allura’s soulmate.”

“Oh? Oh. _OH!_ ” The orange-haired man’s expression rapidly changed from confused to elated to a mix between excited and sad, and expression Pidge could agree with. “Oh, you’re, ah yes, Alfor had told me about that. Ah, I’m Coran Smythe, Allura’s uncle.”

There was a soft croaky chuckle from the hospital bed, with Allura covering her mouth with her hand.

Before any of them could speak again, Dr. Chuang came in, taking in the scene without much surprise. She quickly focused on Allura and checked her reactions to see if she was stable.

“You’re recovering well. We’ll check the ribs and hairline fracture and then you’ll soon be able to go back home.” She commented, scribbling something on the clipboard. “But you’ll have to take things easy until everything’s completely healed, so no volleyball or ballet until we say it’s safe to do so again.”

Allura sighed heavily, a frown that looked playful in nature on her face. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Coran shook the woman’s hand.

“Of course. Now, visiting hours end in an hour, when the nurses come in, you both should be getting back home.” Dr. Chuang reminded before leaving the room.

“Thank you again!” Coran said one last time, turning back to his niece and her soulmate.

The three talked briefly, mostly Pidge telling Coran about themselves, before they exchanged numbers with Coran so he could call them when Allura would be leaving the hospital as a nurse came into the room with soft foods for the girl on the bed.

They left Voltron General, and once they were alone, Pidge ran fingers through their hair shakily. The past couple days had been heavy on their heart, but the silver lining was they finally got to meet their soulmate. They were excited for what was to come, though, and would be there for Allura more than inked messages of encouragement. And whatever came, they would have each other now.

**Author's Note:**

> First time using they/them pronouns for Pidge, or for any character really. Hopefully the story flows well enough, and things still make sense!  
> For such a vague prompt, this was really fun to write. I had a lot of fun with this fic, and I hope yall enjoy it too!


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